One exam, fewer ways to try again

Some national data seem to affirm that a rigorous reliance on testing is improving the US education system.

A study released in August by the Center on Educational Policy (CEP) found that schools with exit exams showed significant improvements.

"There is more of a sense of urgency because there are consequences attached," says Keith Gayler, associate director of CEP. "Districts that were farther behind are doing things to align their curriculum with state standards."

Despite these positive outcomes, however, the CEP study also found that minorities, English-language learners, and low-income students scored lower on the tests and linked the exams to higher dropout rates.

And that's exactly why students like John Lassiter need alternative schools and tests to help keep them in the system, argue many of those who work with these at-risk students.

William Tracy, principal of Daylight-Twilight, says that nontraditional students are often the casualties of high-stakes testing. Last year, nearly 80 percent of Daylight/Twilight students took the SRA. The school boasts an almost 100 percent graduation rate and a growing number of college acceptances for students who otherwise might have not finished high school.

Mr. Tracy says a state test is useful, but does not agree that certain scores should be required for graduation. "Put the scores on the transcripts and let the next level of people, the employers, the colleges, decide."

Ultimately, argue some who oppose high-stakes testing, there is no absolutely objective means of assessing all students. Trying to do so, they say, only encourages manipulation of the system.

Linda McNeil, a professor of Education at Rice University in Houston, has studied the city's public school system since 1984 and says schools are finding ways to inflate scores. "The first solution is to dump the curriculum and replace it with practice tests," she says. "The second is to dump kids. She says that some schools may also respond by lowering the pass grade.

Ms. McNeil points to a skyrocketing dropout rate in Houston as evidence of the dangers of exit exams. In troubled districts, McNeil says, teachers are encouraged to hold back students who are likely to fail the state exam.

"Students who are passing classes are often forced to repeat the ninth grade and take courses specially tailored to exam questions," says McNeil.

"Many of the students who are held back become discouraged and drop out."

At present, more than half of Houston's high school students do not make it to their senior year, McNeil says. She points to one school whose pass rate for the Texas exit exams soared from 38 percent to 83 percent. "Out of the roughly 750 kids who should have been in the class-year at that school, only 296 took the test. The rest were held back."

McNeil says schools are under enormous pressure to raise test results and are not given funding unless scores improve. Texas offers $10,000 to principals whose schools scores rise significantly.

McNeil warns that using a single indicator to measure education is a dangerous practice.

"It's an Enron system. One indicator is real easy to manipulate. Enron was carrying its losses on another set of books. Our school districts are carrying the losses on a different ledger, and it's the dropouts."

Other states turning to exit exams are also now questioning official alternatives like New Jersey's SRA exam.

Currently, most states lean toward lowering passing scores or giving administrators license to award diplomas to students who may have failed more rigorous exams.

But officials at Daylight/Twilight say tests like the SRA are an important alternative. "The kids work really hard on the SRA," says Robert Wolper, who administers state tests at Daylight/Twilight. "I think it is as rigorous as the HSPA. The kids put a lot of time into studying for it."

John Lassiter is grateful the SRA exists because if it did not, he might not receive his diploma at all and would not be eligible for most colleges.

But at the same time, he's studying hard for the SRA and says he thinks it is right that New Jersey require some sort of an exit exam.

He says the exam will make his diploma more meaningful. It's about self-respect, he says. "I'll know I've learned something ... and I did something right, finally."

Page: 1 | 2